Stabilizing and support accessory for stiletto heels

ABSTRACT

A stabilizing and support accessory is provided for a stiletto heel. A base plate, having a surface contact area significantly greater than that of the heel, is mounted underneath the heel by means of a simple, clip-on attachment, such that the attachment can be easily and quickly mounted on a heel for walking over soft or uneven surfaces, and also quickly removed when not needed. A preferred clip-on attachment is formed of a section of spring steel shaped into an upwardly opening, U-shaped clip and a horizontally opening clip integrally extending from one element of the upwardly opening clip. An alternative form, formed primarily of plastic, is attached by a single, horizontally disposed clip gripping the heel. The accessories are sufficiently inexpensive that they may be discarded after use, as after walking on muddy surfaces, for example.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to and claims the priority of provisional application Ser. No. 60/871,170, filed Dec. 21, 2006.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Fashionable shoes for women frequently are provided with tall, very narrow heels, sometimes referred to as “spiked” or “stiletto” heels. These heels are very narrow and provide a minimal support surface at the bottom, which can make the shoes difficult to walk in on uneven or soft surfaces. For example, in uneven surfaces, such as cobblestone sidewalks and pavements, cracked and uneven sidewalks, ventilation and drainage grates, etc., stiletto heels can easily tip or snag, potentially causing injury to the wearer of the shoes and/or damage to the heels. Likewise, walking on soft surfaces, such as wet ground, can be very difficult when wearing stiletto-heeled shoes.

As will be readily understood, the bottom surface area of a stiletto heel is very small, such that the pressure loading on the heel surface is very high. The heels thus can easily penetrate and sink down into soft ground or other soft surfaces, making normal walking very difficult. This problem has been well recognized, and some attempts have been made to provide accessory devices, for temporary attachment to stiletto heels, in an effort to provide greater support and stability. Such prior attempts, insofar as we are aware, have been unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. Prior proposals of the Givens U.S. Pat. No. 1,875,806 and Topel U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,675, are large and unwieldy. While providing a large bottom surface area, the design of these attachments would make walking somewhat difficult.

Other proposals, such as the Grossman U.S. Pat. No. 2,875,534 and the Tilden U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,453 while avoiding the overly large and cumbersome characteristics of the before mentioned patents, are flawed in other ways. The device of the Grossman patent is secured to the heel by folded-over flaps of resilient material, which would provide a tenuous attachment, given the forces acting at the bottom of a stiletto heel during normal walking. The device of the Tilden '453 patent, on the other hand, incorporates an unnecessarily complicated hinged clip arrangement and has other faults.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the device of the invention, a base plate element is provided which has a surface area significantly greater than that of a stiletto heel to which it may be attached. One or more confining elements extend upward from the base plate for engagement with outer surfaces of the heel for positioning the lower extremity of the heel on the base plate. The positioning arrangement is such that the back edge of the base plate does not extend significantly beyond the back edge of the heel, while other portions of the base plate extend laterally outward as well as forward from the heel, to provide the desired increased surface area. A simple spring clip arrangement, in the form of one or more U-shaped spring clips provides means for attachment of the accessory to the heel. The device is simple, lightweight, inexpensive to make, and easily carried in a woman's handbag, for use when needed. When a walking surface is encountered that would suggest use of the accessory, it can be quickly and easily attached to the heel with a simple snap-on attaching action, and just as easily removed when desired.

In one advantageous embodiment of the invention, a combination of upwardly and laterally opening spring clips is provided, preferably using a single section of spring steel material or the like, to provide an inexpensive yet highly effective and convenient attachment for securing the accessory to a stiletto heel. In another advantageous embodiment, a single, laterally opening spring clip element is provided, working in conjunction with confinement means extending upward from the base plate of the device.

The device of the invention is of lightweight construction, and is so configured as to have a minimal effect on the walking stride of the user. In this respect, the base plate is positioned on the heel such that there is little if any projection of the plate behind the back edge of the heel. Thus, in a normal walking gait of the user, the presence of the base plate does not significantly alter the initial contact point when an upwardly tilted shoe of the front foot initially contacts the walking surface.

For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, and to the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing an advantageous form of the invention attached to the stiletto heel of a shoe.

FIG. 2 is a back elevational view showing the clip attached to a stiletto heel.

FIG. 3 is an oblique view of the clip attached to a heel.

FIG. 4 is a back elevational view.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view as taken generally on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are side and back elevational views respectively of the accessory device according to one embodiment of the invention, shown separately from the heel.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are top plan and top perspective views respectively of the clip of FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 10 is a top perspective view of a second embodiment of the accessory device of the invention.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating the device of FIG. 10 attached a stiletto heel.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawing, and initially to FIGS. 1-9 thereof, the reference numeral 12 designates generally a woman's shoe having a high, stiletto heel 13. As will be well understood, the heel 13 may come in various sizes and shapes. A representative shape may have a generally flat front wall 14, opposite side walls 15, 16, and a rear wall 17. In many cases, the side and rear walls 15-17 will be arcuately shaped, such that the side walls 15, 16 merge smoothly into the back wall 17. However, the invention is not limited in any way to a particular shape or size of spiked heel, but is intended to be applicable to a wide variety of such. In a representative case, the bottom 18 of the heel 13 has a very small overall area, for example, around 0.2 square inch, more or less corresponding to a circular area of ½ inch in diameter. As will be appreciated, a 100 pound woman with all her weight on one heel, as might occur during normal walking, would represent a loading on the bottom of that heel of in excess of 500 pounds per square inch.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a stabilizing and support accessory device is provided for selective mounting on the stiletto heel 13 when encountering soft or uneven terrain. In the first illustrated form of the invention, a base plate element 19 is provided, which has a significantly greater bottom surface area than the bottom 18 of the heel and which has opposite side portions 20, 21 extending laterally outward beyond the side walls 15, 16 of the heel, and an extension 22 extending forwardly of the front wall 14 of the heel. To particular advantage, the back edge portion 23 of the base plate does not extend significantly beyond the back edge 24 of the heel. Typical, but not limiting, dimensions of the base plate 19 are approximately 1.3 inch in width and approximately 1.25 inches front to back, which would increase the surface contact area by a factor of around five to seven times, relative to a typical stiletto heel.

In the device of FIGS. 1-9, the base plate 19 may be molded of a suitable hard rubber or plastic material, and desirably is provided with upwardly extending confining means, comprising a front confining wall 25 and side confining walls 26, 27. These confining walls project upward from the upper surface 28 of the base plate a short distance, for example ⅜th inch, and serve to limit lateral and forward movement of the heel 13 relative to the base plate 19.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a novel and simplified clip device is provided for mounting of the base plate 19 against the bottom of the heel 14 while accommodating easy and rapid attachment and removal of the device. To this end, a sheet of spring steel or similar material is formed to provide a first, upwardly opening, generally U-shaped spring clip device 29 comprising a front spring element 30, a rear spring element 31, and a flat connecting portion 32 extending between and joining the front and back spring elements 30, 31. As reflected in FIGS. 4 and 5, the base plate 19 is formed with a groove 33 running from front to back and of a suitable width and depth to receive the lower element 32 of the spring clip 29. Desirably, the length of the groove 33 is such, in relation to the length of the connecting element 32 and the configuration of the front and back spring elements 30, 31, that assembly of the base plate 19 to the spring clip 29 can be accomplished by simply forcing the base plate through the opening in the clip and downward against the connecting portion 32. If necessary or desirable, however, the spring portion 32 may be fixed to the base plate 19 by a rivet or other fastening means (not shown).

The configuration of the spring clip 29 is such that, when the device is applied over the bottom of the heel 13, the back element 31 of the spring presses forwardly on the back surface 17 of the heel, while the forward spring element 30 presses rearwardly against the front surface 14, such that the heel is firmly gripped between the spring elements 30, 31, as reflected in the drawings.

In the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1-9, a second spring clip 40 is formed by lateral extensions 34, 35 from an upper portion 36 of the spring element 30. The two lateral extensions 34, 35, which form opposed spring clip elements, extend rearwardly in a generally horizontal orientation from the spring element 30 and are configured to surround and grip a portion of the heel spaced upward from the heel bottom 18 a short distance, perhaps 1.5 inch. The clip elements 34, 35 have inwardly convergent end portions 37, 38 forming a narrow throat area 39. This forms a snap-on clip structure, which is mounted on the heel by being applied to the front of the heel and pressed rearwardly to temporarily displace the clip elements 34, 35. The clip elements 34, 35 thus snugly grip and confine an elevated portion of the heel. Between the upwardly opening, generally U-shaped clip 29, and the laterally opening clip 40, formed by the elements 34, 35, the heel is firmly gripped and confined, holding the base plate 19 securely against the bottom surface 18 of the heel.

Mounting of the clip on the heel 13 is a quick and simple process of initially positioning the rearwardly opening clip 40 against the front of the heel, near the bottom of the heel, such that the front spring element 31 is below the bottom 18 of the heel. The spring clip 40 is pressed rearwardly and snapped on over the heel, after which the base plate 19 is tilted and pressed upward until the bottom of the heel is seated within the confinement elements 25-27. The heel will then be gripped in the front-to-back direction by the elements 30, 31 of the spring clip 29.

In the heel accessory of the invention, the back edge 23 of the base plate 19 is positioned to project minimally, if at all, behind the back edge 24 of the heel. Accordingly, during normal walking motions, when the heel engages the underlying surface, while the front foot is in an upwardly tilted orientation, the pressure on the back portion of the base plate is transmitted directly upward into the heel. If the base plate were to project rearwardly of the heel to any significant extent, it would tend to contact the underlying surface prematurely, with a normal walking motion, making walking somewhat awkward. Moreover, when weight is applied to a rearwardly projecting element, a pivoting moment would be applied to the base plate tending to cause it to tilt relative to the heel. These undesirable actions are avoided by positioning the base plate so that its back edge is more or less coincident with the back edge of the heel.

The “at rest” form of the accessory device is shown in FIGS. 6-9. In the at rest position, the back spring element 31 may project forwardly, slightly through an opening formed between the lateral confining elements 26, 27. The front spring element 30 extends rearwardly, over the top of the front confinement element 25. This causes/enables the horizontal clip 40 to project rearward of the base plate 19 and spring element 31, where the convergent tabs 37, 38 can easily be brought into contact with the lower portion of a heel and snapped over the heel during installation. The base plate 19 can then be pressed upward and rearward, to position the bottom of the heel in the confined area 41 mounted by the confinement elements 25-27. Thus, the accessory can be applied to a heel with a simple two-step motion, with a snap-on attachment of the upper clip 40, followed by a similar attachment of the lower clip 29.

As shown particularly in FIG. 8, the front and back edges of the base plate 19 advantageously are notched out at 42, 43 to receive the lower clip 29 and provide additional lateral confinement thereof.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIGS. 1-9, the upper and lower spring elements 40, 29, are formed of a single stamping of spring steel or similar material, which preferably is simply snapped in place over the bottom of the base plate 19, such that both manufacture and assembly of the device is very economical. Of course, where desired, the spring clips 29, 40 may be separate elements secured together by a rivet or other suitable means, and may in some cases be made of suitable plastic materials.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 10 and 11, a modified form of stabilizing and support accessory is shown, which can be a one-piece or two-piece construction, as desired. The accessory device includes a base plate 50, having an area significantly greater than the bottom surface area of a typical stiletto heel. A confinement element 51 projects upwardly from the base plate and is supported in a generally vertical orientation by means of a gusset plate 52. The confinement element 51 in the illustrated device is of a generally channel-shaped cross section, defining a front confinement 53 and opposite side confinements 54, 55. The confinement element is adapted to seat and position the forward portion of a stiletto heel 57 (FIG. 11). To advantage, the confinement element 51 positions the heel on the base plate such that the back edge 58 of the base plate does not project significantly behind the back edge 59 of the heel.

A resilient, snap-on clip 60, of generally U-shaped configuration, is disposed in a horizontal orientation, extending laterally with respect to a toe-to-heel axis of a shoe on which the accessory device is mounted. In the illustrated form of the invention, one leg 61 of the U-shaped clip is adhesively or otherwise secured to upper portions of the confinement element 51. The other leg 62 of the clip, which is free to flex, projects laterally somewhat beyond the confinement element 51 and is provided with a curved deflection tab 63 at its outer end. The device of FIGS. 10 and 11 is easily attached to the heel 57 by positioning the open side of the clip 63 against one side of the heel, and causing the resilient clip to open by pressing the clip laterally toward the heel, until the clip snaps into place in the arrangement shown in FIG. 11. The flexible element 62 of the clip is preferably provided with a concave configuration at 64 to assist in lateral confinement of the heel 57, in conjunction with the confinement element 51.

Although the elements of the device of FIGS. 10 and 11 advantageously are of molded plastic, of a one-piece or two-piece design, the clip element 60 could of course be made of spring metal, if desired.

In any of its functional forms, the accessory device of the invention can be inexpensively manufactured, and is easy to install and remove. It is contemplated that a user will carry a set of the devices in her handbag and quickly slip them on to her shoes when encountering surfaces that are unsuitable or difficult to walk on with stiletto heels. The devices can later be quickly removed, when the walking surface is more favorable. If the accessories have become soiled during use (for example, after use on muddy terrain) the devices can simply be discarded after use.

It should be understood, of course, that the specific forms of the invention herein illustrated and described are intended to be representative only, as certain changes may be made therein without departing from the clear teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following appended claims in determining the full scope of the invention. 

1. A stabilizing and support accessory for a stiletto heel, wherein said heel has a bottom surface and front, back and opposite side wall surfaces extending upwardly from said bottom surface, which comprises (a) a base plate element arranged to underlie said bottom surface and to extend in a horizontal direction substantially beyond said opposite side wall surfaces and said front wall surface of the heel, (b) said base plate element having a back edge positioned in substantial alignment with the back wall of said heel, (c) said stiletto heel having an axis extending upwardly from said bottom surface, (d) means for confining the lower portion of said heel with respect to said base plate element comprising one or more confining elements extending upward relative to said base plate element adjacent to at least certain of said wall surfaces of said stiletto heel, and (e) a spring clip means having an open end for detachable gripping engagement with said heel at a level substantially above said base plate, whereby said accessory may be removably secured to said heel by a snap-on attachment of said clip to said heel.
 2. An accessory according to claim 1, wherein (a) said spring means comprises an upwardly opening, generally U-shaped spring clip having spaced-apart upwardly extending spring elements for engaging and gripping a first pair of opposed wall surfaces of said heel, one of said upwardly extending spring elements mounting, at opposite edges thereof, a pair of generally horizontally extending spring elements forming a horizontally opening spring clip, (b) said horizontally opening spring clip engaging and gripping a second pair of wall surfaces of said heel.
 3. An accessory according to claim 2, wherein (a) one of the spring elements of said upwardly opening spring clip extending upwardly a greater distance than the other spring element of said clip, and (b) said horizontally opening spring clip is mounted by said one of said spring element and extends toward the other spring element of said clip.
 4. An accessory according to claim 3, wherein (a) said upwardly opening clip is positioned to engage and grip front and back walls of said heel, and (b) said horizontally opening spring clip is positioned to engage and grip opposite side walls of said heel.
 5. An accessory according to claim 4, wherein (a) the spring element of said upwardly opening clip that mounts said horizontally opening spring clip being positioned adjacent the front wall of said heel, and (b) said horizontally opening clip is positioned to extend rearwardly from said last mentioned spring clip.
 6. An accessory according to claim 2, wherein (a) said upwardly opening spring clip and said horizontally extending spring clip are formed of a single section of spring metal material.
 7. An accessory according to claim 2, wherein (a) said base plate is formed with a downwardly opening groove therein extending from front to back of said base plate, and (b) said upwardly opening spring clip is formed with a generally flat bottom portion received in said downwardly opening groove.
 8. An accessory according to claim 1, wherein (a) said one or more upwardly extending confining elements comprises an element fixed to said base plate element and extending upwardly therefrom for positioning adjacent the front wall of said heel and one or more additional elements positioned adjacent to opposite side walls of said heels.
 9. An accessory according to claim 1, wherein (a) said snap-on spring clip comprising a generally U-shaped member comprising spaced-apart gripping elements open at one end and joined at the other by a connecting portion, and (b) said spring clip being generally horizontally disposed relative to said base plate element.
 10. An accessory according to claim 9, wherein, (a) one of the gripping elements of said spring clip being mounted on one of said confining elements with said clip extending is a side to side direction for gripping front and back walls of said heel.
 11. An accessory according to claim 10, wherein (a) said spring clip, said base plate element and said confining means comprising a unitary molding of plastic material. 